Like many current bands, Afghan-American singer Zohra Atash’s project Religious to Damn is inspired by the sound of the 70’s and 80’s. However, the influences on this record are far from typical. Religious to Damn’s music doesn’t have anything to do with those dancey Motown tunes, glam rock, or electro-pop. Instead, their album "Glass Prayer" references dark and sophisticated artists like Japan, David Sylvian, Siouxsie & The Banshees and (in the poppier choruses) queens of cool Blondie and Kate Bush. The best songs on the album are "Drifter", a track built on a super simple bass line that develops quite surprisingly towards celestial openings and the title track "Glass Prayer" (in the video), which alternates a verse that’s almost a tribute to late Japan with a chorus as beautiful and voluptuous as Kate Bush’s best songs. Infused with exotic sounds and atmospheres, the record features a good number of ballads and mid tempo numbers, but things seems to get more interesting whenever the BPM go up, as evidenced by the Morriconian "The Wait", and the tense and apocalyptic "Let The Fires Burn". (This CD was submitted through our digital CD submission system).